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Fishing Report for the Florida Panhandle
Capt. Alex Crawford
October 10, 2001
Carrabelle - Saltwater Fishing Report
Inshore, the water surface temperature has dropped into the low 80s in the St. George Sound and Apalachicola Bay. The sheepshead bite is picking up around the bridge pilings of the St. George and Apalachicola bridges. My next door neighbor brought a huge 9 pounder to the dock last week that he lured with a fresh dead shrimp. Live fiddler crabs are the best sheepshead bait if you can buy them or catch them in the marsh a low tide. Trout fishing has been terrific, especially for sand trout. Take only what you can realistically use, as these little boys have no size or bag limit. We certainly have learned about inexhaustable marine resources. The best method for speckled trout is an equalizer float with a small live pinfish or live shrimp. For you “purists,” try a Rapala or Mirrolure popper or a Saltwater Assassin. Reds love big shrimp, who does’nt. Use a fluorocarbon leader and a 1/0 slider jig fished slowly around an oyster bar on both sides of low tide. Artificials, like copper and gold ˝ oz. Spoons will sometimes out fish live bait, probably because more and longer casts are possible.
Offshore, red and gag grouper are starting to move closer to shore. Friday, my charter produced a limit of nice groups on a 45 foot deep live bottom. Red and gray snappers are prolific and hungry this time of year, but remember the red snapper season closes 10/31. The big mangrove snappers can be chummed up in the water column at night. For a pure rush of adrenaline, flat line a cigar minnow after dark and try not to get pulled into the ocean. I call it, “things that go bump in the night.” October is prime time Kingfishing on the gulf coast. Kings are voracious in the fall, bulking up for the cold winter. A school of kings skyrocketing on a giant herd of menhaden is a thrilling sight. Slow troll a big hard tail jack on your downrigger for a big smoker king. Or, troll Stretch 30s or Big Rapala CD18s and drop your marker float on the first hookup. Go back and drift the area with cigar minnows and it will pay off. Smoked kingfish dip on a ritz cracker, yum-yum.
Remember to take a kid fishing! United like never before, we will positively persevere. God Bless!!!
Until next tide, tight lines,
Captain Alex Crawford
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